And I have not yet spoken of the other evils which
prevail amongst men, from which even those who have the appearance of
philosophers are not speedily freed, for in philosophy there are many
pretenders. Nor do I say anything on the point that many such
evils are found to exist among those who are neither Jews nor
Christians. Of a truth, such evil practices do not at all prevail
among
Christians, if you properly examine what constitutes a
Christian. Or, if any persons of that kind should be discovered,
they are at least not to be found among those who frequent the
assemblies, and come to the public prayers, without their being
excluded from them, unless it should happen, and that rarely, that some
one individual of such a character escapes notice in the crowd.
We, then, are not worms who assemble together; who take our stand
against the Jews on those Scriptures which they believe to be divine,
and who show that He who was spoken of in prophecy
has come, and
that
they have been abandoned on account of the greatness of
their sins, and that
we who have accepted the Word have the
highest hopes in God, both because of our faith in Him, and of His
ability to receive us into His communion pure from all evil and
wickedness of life. If a man, then, should call himself a Jew or
a Christian, he would not say without qualification that God had made
the whole world, and the vault of heaven
37853785την
οὐράνιον
φοράν.
for us in particular. But if a man is, as Jesus taught, pure in
heart, and meek, and peaceful, and cheerfully submits to dangers for
the sake of his religion, such an one might reasonably have confidence
in God, and with a full apprehension of the word contained in the
prophecies, might say this also: “All these things has God
shown beforehand, and announced to us who
believe.”